This One's Personal
by PattiL61
Summary: Chapter 15 (Conclusion/Epilogue) is up 11/27/02. Hope you enoyed it. I had fun writing it. Thanks for all the great feedback!
1. Chapter 1

This is a follow-up to my previous story entitled, "Taking Care of Their Own," and takes place roughly 2 1/2 years later. Please let me know what you think and if I should continue with this story. None of the cast or characters of TW are owned by me. Mr. Bernero and NBC have that honor.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
This One's Personal  
Chapter 1  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was getting dark and hard to see. Practically all units of the 55 were out looking for the suspect. No one wanted him to get away with what he'd done. And they all wanted to be the one to find him. Even the community was behind them. The sentiment was that it would be no great loss if this guy never saw a trial. He was a pedophile and no one had much use for them. It would not be tolerated, but this guy hadn't realized the wrath he brought upon himself when he had unknowingly preyed upon one of their own. It was an awful crime - no matter what child it happened to. But he made it personal.  
*-*-*-*-*-*  
It was the start of the shift and everyone, including Bosco, was on time for roll call. The word had spread that the Lieutenant was in no mood to be fooled with. Something big had gone down with a member of his family and all the officers wanted to help their boss out. He was a well-respected member of the Department and had shown all of his officers nothing but the utmost fairness. Even Bosco had always said that, no matter what he had gotten in trouble for, his punishment had been fair.  
  
The Lieutenant walked into the roll call room and everyone quieted down. It was almost like when the principle came into the classroom during school.   
  
All eyes fell on the Lieutenant and stomachs tightened because they could tell by the look on his face that it was serious. Lieutenant Swersky went about making his usual announcements about where there were stakeouts to stay clear of and where there had been requests for increased patrols due to suspicious or criminal activity.  
  
"Before you all head out, I'm sure that the rumor mill has been working overtime. I don't know what you've heard or how much so I'll fill you all in. However, and I want to make this perfectly clear," the Lieutenant said and then paused to make sure he had everyone's attention. "I don't want your regular duties to suffer because of what I'm about to tell you. The detectives are working on it and all we ask is that you keep your ears and eyes open and report anything you notice or suspect back to myself or the detectives assigned the case," he said.  
  
"Lieu. Just tell us how we can help you," Bosco said, receiving a stare from Sgt. Christopher for interrupting.  
  
"Boscorelli! See me after roll call," Christopher said, intending to lash into Bosco for interrupting a superior officer.  
  
Swersky put an arm on Christopher's shoulder, signaling him to let it go. Bosco was the only officer that could get away with something like that with Swersky. They had become friends over the years. The Lieutenant understood Bosco. He knew he was a good cop and only wanted to get his job done. Sure, he had a few rough edges, but he reminded Swersky of himself when he was younger. He'd had a few good run-ins with his superior officers as well, but look where he was today.  
  
The Lieutenant looked at Bosco and then around the room before he continued. "My daughter Katy and her kids live just outside of this building. As you know, she was married to a firefighter killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center while trying to rescue victims. At that time, Katy was pregnant with my granddaughter. Most of you and the members of Camelot took it upon yourselves to watch over them as you would your own family and I am forever grateful for that. My grandson, Shaun, the 5 year old, has indicated through things that he has said to his mother about being touched inappropriately by one of the assistants at his daycare. Now we're not sure to what extent the incident went or how often. We are in the process of determining that with the doctors. Officer Shannon is passing out fliers with a picture of one George Palmer. He is being sought for questioning but apparently got wind of the report and has disappeared. His last known address is listed and happens to be within our precinct. So, please keep your eyes open. That is all. Hit the street and be careful," he finished and turned and walked from the room.  
  
The officers of the 55 were stunned into silence. After a moment, Bosco forcefully closed his notebook, took a flier from Shannon and walked brusquely from the roll call room.  
  
"Bosco," Faith called after him, following him out to their patrol car. "Bosco! Slow down," she said again. Bosco stopped alongside the police car and looked at Faith.  
  
"What?" he asked, the anger heavy in his voice.  
  
"Bosco. I know you wanna find this guy - we all do. But, you can't go off half-cocked. Now, we have a job to do. This isn't the only bad guy out there. We can't just get tunnel vision on this one guy. You heard the Lieutenant," she finished.  
  
"Yeah, Faith," he answered back. "I heard the Lieutenant. I also saw the look he gave me in there, Faith, and I'm not gonna let him down. I'm not gonna let Katy, Michael, Matthew, Shaun or Stephanie down. Now are you with me or not?"  
  
"I'm with you Bosco, but don't make this personal," said Faith as she stopped short when Bosco turned around quickly to face her.  
  
"Personal? Personal?! That bastard made this personal. He messed with the wrong 'family' this time. He messed with my family," Bosco finished, getting into the RMP, slamming the door and starting the engine.  
  
The Lieutenant stood in the window of his office and took in the exchange between Boscorelli and Yokas. He knew that Bosco had seen the look on his face. He also knew that there was no way that Bosco would let him down. He'd find the bastard that did this. He wouldn't stop until he did. He turned away from the window as 55-David sped from the stationhouse and the detectives came into his office to brief him on the case's progress so far.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... If you think I should. Please let me know if I should continue with this. I'm not sure where it's going to go, so I'm going to give it a parental warning rating. 


	2. Chapter 2

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 2  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
George Palmer was flipping through the channels on the television of the motel he was staying at. He wanted to see if his picture had been put out over the wires and to the news. He could always use a fake name - he'd done it to get this last job in the daycare center - but he didn't have the money to change his looks.  
  
He still couldn't believe how lucky he'd been to overhear Shaun's mother talking with the director of the daycare center about him, allowing him to get away. He could still hear it...  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
"I want answers, Mrs. Moore. And I want them now. Did you run a background check on this person?" came Katy's angry voice through the door.  
  
"What exactly did Shaun say about Mr. Palmer?" Mrs. Moore had asked her.  
  
"He told me about the game that George liked to play with him. He showed me and it was inappropriate, to say the least, and I won't stand for it. I want to make sure that no other child has to go through this and I want anyone that has to get help to deal with it," Katy continued. "Now, where is he?"  
  
"Well, let's see," Mrs. Moore said, getting flustered. She was trying to remember who had run the background check on George Palmer. She always looked over the checks and she was sure that everything must have been in order. "He should be in setting up for the morning group," said Mrs. Moore, leading Katy to the activity room.  
  
He wasn't in the activity room so she went into a couple of the other rooms, Katy following her, and finally called out to him, "George! Are you in here anywhere?" She looked at Katy and said, "He was here a minute ago. I just gave him his coffee. I always pick up coffee and bagels on the way in every morning," she said to fill the silence.  
  
Suddenly Katy and Mrs. Moore noticed a draft and went over to the back entrance to find it wide open, a coffee cup discarded just outside the door. "Looks like he gave us the slip," Katy said to Mrs. Moore as she stormed out to head home and figure out what to do next.  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
And now here he was, holed up in some rat-trap of a motel. He found the news channel and listened for a full cycle of the news. There was no mention of him, but he knew that didn't mean that they weren't out looking for him. He flipped through the billing and emergency notification information of Shaun's file that he'd taken on his way out and his eyes stopped at the spot where a secondary notification was listed for emergencies (in the event that the parent could not be reached immediately). It read Lieutenant Swersky (grandfather) and listed his home phone as well as the phone number of the 55th Precinct. In addition, another name had been written below that line. It read Maurice Boscorelli (friend) with phone numbers for his home and work - it was the same work number as Shaun's grandfather.  
  
He immediately got a nervous feeling in his stomach. "You may have screwed up big this time," he thought to himself. He spent a few minutes chastising himself for being careless and not researching his victim better. But, Shaun had been such a happy kid; outgoing and trusting, with a bright, quick smile for everyone.  
  
"Okay, George. Focus. You've got to figure out what to do," he thought to himself. Another voice within him told him that there was no way he could leave the child behind. First and foremost, he couldn't leave a witness; and secondly, he just couldn't imagine losing such a special find. He shook himself from his sick thoughts and reached for the old, tattered phone book.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Look," said Bosco, getting angrier by the second. "You can either open the door for me, or I'll kick it in myself. But, make no mistake, I AM getting in that apartment," he threatened. Faith immediately stepped between Bosco and the superintendent of Palmer's building.  
  
"Bos, calm down. Look, Mr. Sampson, isn't it?" she asked and the man nodded that she was correct.  
  
"Mr. Sampson. It's very important that we make sure that Mr. Palmer isn't hurt in the apartment. He was a witness to a very serious crime and there's a good chance that his identity is known to the criminal. Now, we don't want this guy coming here looking for Mr. Palmer to try and hurt him," she continued to explain, now gaining the superintendent's full attention.  
  
"What, you mean like this guy could come here and mess the place up?" he said.  
  
"Yeah. But, I'm sure you're more concerned with the safety of your tenants, right?" Bosco said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, that goes without saying, Officer," faked the man, who was more concerned with the cost of repairing any damages than he was the loss of human life.  
  
"Of course," said Bosco. "So, are you gonna open the door or what?"  
  
"'Cause the sooner we find Mr. Palmer and advertise that he's in protective custody, the less chance of anyone coming here looking for him," added Faith, again stepping between Bosco and Mr. Sampson.  
  
"Well, okay," said the man, taking out his key and unlocking the door. "But if he complains, I'm telling him you made me do it."  
  
"Yeah, whatever," said Bosco, pushing the man aside and opening the door at the same time he drew his weapon and held it at the ready.  
  
"Easy, Bos," Faith warned as she did the same and they entered the apartment.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	3. Chapter 3

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 3  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco and Faith had returned to the station after finding Palmer's apartment empty. Faith was filling out some paperwork from an earlier call and Bosco was sitting in the chair alongside the desk staring off into space and fiddling with a pencil.  
  
"Bosco!" Faith called, suddenly jarring Bosco back to the present. "I asked you if you remember which pocket Evans had his drugs stashed in. I need it for the report," she said again.  
  
"Um, his left jacket pocket, I think," he answered her absently.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" she asked him.  
  
He paused for a moment, figuring that Faith knew him so well, she probably already knew. "About Katy and the kids. I just can't believe that something like this could happen to them," he said, making eye contact with Faith.  
  
"Happens all the time, Bos. You know that," she said. "What besides them being related to the Lieu is making this an obsession with you?"  
  
He looked at Faith for a moment. He hadn't told her about the time he'd spent with Katy and her kids. She knew he had ended up going into the delivery room for Stephanice's birth, simply because he couldn't get his hand out of hers during the contractions. Before he knew it, he was in the delivery room, all gowned-up and telling her to breathe through the contractions. He'd never forget that night. It was a beautiful thing. Most of the time he saw kids being born in the streets to parents who were really too young to be having kids of their own, or didn't really want them and discarded them in an alleyway. He thought about the sound of the baby crying when she was born and the look of pure love on Katy's face when they showed the baby to her. He watched her cry because she'd never know her father. He smiled at the thought of her holding her newborn baby and kissing and softly talking to her just seconds after she'd been born. He helped her to count the fingers and toes before the nurse took the baby to measure and weigh her.  
  
"Bos?" Faith said, noticing the smile across his face. "Oh my God. You didn't..." she started, before the smile faded from Bosco's face and he interrupted her sentence.  
  
"NO! I didn't sleep with her," he said, suddenly looking behind him to make sure the boss hadn't heard him. "I just, you know, hung around there a lot and helped her out when she came home with the baby. You know, she already had three other kids and her husband was gone. I don't know, Faith. I just know that when I was in that delivery room and Stephanie was born. Well, it was beautiful. I want that some day, Faith," he confessed to her.  
  
"I know you do, Bos. And you'll have that someday. Who knows, maybe even with Katy," she said, getting an immediate response from Bosco.  
  
"What?!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Bos. I see the look on your face when you talk about her, or the kids, or when they're out on the steps at the house during shift change. Those kids love you, Bos. And, if I didn't know better, I'd think Stephanie thought that you were her Daddy. She certainly thinks of you as her protector. You're the first one she comes to whenever we stop over there," Faith said. "I think it's great, Bosco. I really do," she finished, smiling.  
  
"Yeah, well. I gotta hit the head," Bosco said, suddenly standing up, needing to get away from this conversation. The last thing he needed was someone getting wind of it and it getting back to the Lieutenant. He turned and walked out of the office and down the hallway.   
  
He passed the Lieutenant's office and noticed him sitting in the chair, staring off into the corner of the room. He stopped just past the door and thought for a moment. He thought about that look that he'd gotten from the Lieu during roll call. He knew that the Boss was counting on him to find this scumbag. He backed up and softly knocked on the door.   
  
"Lieu? Can I come in for a second?" Bosco asked.  
  
"Boscorelli. How's the shift going so far? Nice arrest on that Evans kid. The detectives are talking to him and he's turning over people left and right to try to avoid prison time," the Lieutenant said.  
  
"Thank you, Sir," said Bosco. "I'm sorry, Sir. About what happened to Shaun. I'm gonna do everything I can to find this asshole," he promised him.  
  
"I know you are, Bosco. I know that I can count on you to not quit, no matter what. You're like me when I was your age. Your full of yourself and of confidence in your abilities. But, be careful. Being full of yourself can get you in trouble. You have to watch your back. But, that's what I've got Faith with you for - to keep you grounded," the Lieutenant said.  
  
"Yes, Sir. She's certainly has her hands full with me at times," Bosco said, relaxing a little. It had always been so easy for him to talk to the Boss. He'd come to think of him as the father he'd wished he had, and he was sure that the Lieutenant sensed that too. "I'm gonna find him. Tell Katy that for me, will you, Sir?"  
  
"I already told her that, Bosco. Now get back out there," he said, standing up to walk him out of his office. Faith was coming down the hall and they met up in the hallway.  
  
"Sir," Faith said, acknowledging her superior officer.   
  
"Yokas, good job tonight. Now get back out there and be safe," he said and the two officers turned to return to their RMP.  
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TBC... 


	4. Chapter 4

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 4  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
George Palmer sat in the window of the diner with the menu blocking anyone from the outside from seeing his face. He had a good view, however, so that he could keep an eye on the comings and goings of people. He knew that the cops must have a description of him by now. He was waiting for a guy named Ben to show up. Palmer looked at his watch and frowned as he realized the man was a few minutes late. He had called his friend Luther that he'd met the last time he was in jail and been referred to this Ben to get some fake identification and such.   
  
The door to the diner opened and the man stood in the doorway briefly and looked around. His eyes settled on Palmer and he cautiously walked over to him and sat down in the booth next to him. He pulled out a menu and started looking it over. The waitress came over and poured him a cup of coffee.   
  
"Are you ordering anything?" the waitress asked him. "Yeah, give me the meatball sandwich special and a salad," said Ben. The waitress nodded and walked over to Palmer with the coffee. "Refill?" she asked him. He nodded and she poured another cup, dropping a couple of creamers on the table alongside his cup before walking away.  
  
After a moment of checking his surroundings, Palmer looked over at the man in the booth next to him. Ben casually said, "Can I borrow your dessert menu?" Palmer handed him the menu and continued to drink his coffee. Ben opened the menu allowing the envelope to fall into his lap, after which he checked the contents and casually slid the envelope inside his jacket. He inserted another envelope into the menu, closed it and returned the menu to Palmer. Palmer did the same with his envelope. He swallowed the last of his coffee, stood up, threw some money on the table and walked to the door and out onto the street.  
  
"Pleasure doing business with you," Ben mumbled under his breath as he watched the man walk across the street and around the corner. The waitress brought his food and he ate his meal in quiet, watching the waitress clean up after Palmer and sneering at the tiny tip that he'd left her.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Palmer knew that he shouldn't chance it, but he just couldn't help himself. He knew that if he were going to be able to make a clean getaway, he'd have to bring the boy with him. There was no way he could just leave him behind; not someone as perfect as he was. He had on a hat; his jacket collar pulled up around his neck. He rounded the corner by the firehouse at King and Arthur. He looked into the station as he walked past and noticed that the truck and ambulance were absent. He stopped as he looked at Shaun's house, the lights glowing softly inside the window. As he noticed the lights on upstairs, he looked at his watch and thought that the child's mother was probably putting the kids down for the night. He stood at the corner and watched as the upstairs lights went out, one by one. The only light left on was one in the front room and George could see the changing colors of the television screen bouncing off the walls. He could see someone sitting on the couch. He wondered if there was a way to get to the upstairs from outside the building. Maybe he could gain entry and be gone with Shaun before anyone knew it. He was brought back from his thoughts at the sound of the fire truck returning. He moved on casually, "I'll have to get a better look and plan this out very carefully," he thought to himself as he walked away. He didn't notice the young man exiting the police station and looking up the street toward Katy's house.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco stood outside of the precinct for a few moments, looking at Katy's house. He was debating whether to go over and knock on her door. He hadn't been there since he'd found out what had happened. He'd spent all his time looking for the jag-off that had done it. He wanted to tell Katy that he'd found him and that the kids were all safe. He didn't know what he'd say when he talked to her.  
  
He was broken from his thoughts at the voice behind him. "She'd like to see you," said Lieutenant Swersky behind him. "Katy and the kids miss you, Bosco."  
  
Bosco didn't turn around, but smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure what to say, Sir," he started. "I want to get this guy. I want to hurt this guy," he finished.  
  
"No more than I do," Swersky said to him from behind, patting Bosco on the back as he walked by. "Go see her. You don't have to say anything. She just needs to have company - from someone other than her old man," he chuckled. "Besides, she knows that you've been out every night and day looking for this guy," he finished walking toward his car as he looked up at his daughter's house.  
  
"G'night, Sir," Bosco said as he watched the man walk away. He looked back at the house and saw Katy sitting on the couch watching the news. He stepped off the curb, walked across the street, and knocked lightly on the door, not wanting to wake up the kids. The hallway light turned on and the door opened. Katy stepped back to let Bosco in and closed the door behind him. They looked at each other for an awkward moment and Lieutenant Swersky smiled as he watched the two embrace and then walk into the living room to sit down. Lieutenant Swersky drove off toward his own home, scanning the streets for any sign of the man who'd hurt his family so much.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	5. Chapter 5

This One's Personal  
Chapter 5  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bosco was sound asleep, in the middle of a great dream. Suddenly, his nose picked up on the smell of bacon cooking. And fresh coffee brewing. He was fully awake, but didn't want to open his eyes. He couldn't remember who he'd gone home with last night. He hadn't done this in a long time, longer than he could remember. "What the hell did I drink last night?" he thought to himself, wondering where the hangover headache was. "Think, Boscorelli. How are you gonna get out of this one?" he said to himself.  
  
Suddenly, he felt something wet in his ear. He jumped up to a sitting position and opened his eyes. He was face-to-face with a two-year old girl with a wet pacifier that had apparently just been in his ear.  
  
"Stephanie?! What the...?" he said before being interrupted by a sound of another child's voice from the kitchen.  
  
"Bosco! Mom says if you want to eat, you better get a move on. 'Cause I'm gonna eat all the bacon," came Michael's voice tauntingly.  
  
"Mom! Mike said he's gonna eat all of Bosco's bacon!" whined Matthew.  
  
"I want bacon!" yelled Shaun.  
  
"No one is going to eat all the bacon. Everyone get out here and sit down before everything gets cold," Katy scolded happily. "Bosco, bring Stephanie out with you, please," she called out to him.  
  
Bosco smiled as he remembered where he was. He had come over to Katy's house after work last night, at the urging of the Lieutenant. They'd just sat around and talked. They watched some TV and apparently Bosco fell asleep, only to wake up this morning on the couch, covered with a blanket, in the middle of the bustle of Katy's everyday life. And it felt great.  
  
"Okay, but I think you're gonna wanna wash her pacifier off. She stuck it in my ear," he said, laughing as he picked up the little girl.   
  
"Dada," she said as he tickled her side.  
  
"No, Steph. Bosco," he corrected her gently. He didn't want Katy to think that he was trying to take over for her dead husband.  
  
He walked out into the kitchen and put Stephanie in her highchair. He reached over and stole a piece of bacon from Michael's plate as he was stuffing some bagel with cream cheese in his mouth.  
  
"Hey!" he yelled with a full mouth.  
  
"Michael!" yelled Katy. "Don't talk with food in your mouth," she corrected him.  
  
"Now I stole some bacon from him. The man is just trying to fight for his survival," Bosco defended him, messing up his hair.  
  
She gave Bosco a smirk and said, "Orange juice or coffee, Sleeping Beauty?"  
  
"Uuummmm, both," he said. "This smells great, but you didn't have to do this. Sorry, I guess I fell asleep on you last night," he said, giving her an apologetic smile.  
  
"No problem. You were exhausted. Dad told me you've been out looking during all your off-time," she said with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Bosco," she said quietly, making eye contact. "Really," she added as she poured his coffee.  
  
He looked up at the clock on the wall and couldn't believe that it was 10:00 a.m. already. "How the heck did I sleep through all this so long?" he asked her, as he took in the scene before him. Michael and Matthew were nudging each other, while Shaun was tattling on them. Stephanie had eggs smeared all over her face and was in the process of feeding the remains of her bagel to the dog.  
  
"Well, the kids actually slept in a little bit this morning and they decided to play upstairs since you were sleeping down here," she explained.  
  
"Thanks, guys," Bosco said, giving the kids a smile.  
  
"I like cheese," announced Shaun out of the blue, and the whole group broke up laughing.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
George Palmer was watching the happy group through his binoculars where he was situated across the street from the back of Katy's house. "Well, isn't that the happy little family," he said out loud to himself, wondering who the young man was.  
  
"We'll see how long that lasts," he grumbled as he shifted his gaze to the direction of the upstairs window. He had figured out which one was Shaun's room because of the firetruck curtains that were in his window. He remembered how Shaun had talked about his new room with the firetruck bed when he had moved from a crib to a "big boy bed."   
  
As luck would have it, the fire escape went right up to his window. What a stroke of luck for him. He'd wait for Katy to go out with the kids and then he'd sneak up there with his cable company uniform on and rig the window so that it would open. It would only be a matter of hours until he'd again be with his precious Shaun. He had already picked up a firetruck bed to put in Shaun's "new" room with him. It was being held at the store until he picked it up after finding a new place to live. "Oh, the wonderful life we'll have together," he said.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was 8:30 at night, five and a half hours into their shift, and Sully was driving the cruiser down a darkened street.  
  
"So, did you hear the prints they picked up from the daycare center on George Palmer came back to a Nathaniel James?" said Sully.  
  
"Yeah, I heard about that. James has a record going back 25 years for pedophilia," Davis said.  
  
"We gotta get this guy," Sully said as he gripped the wheel tighter.  
  
"Hold up, slow down, Sul," Davis said. He felt the RMP immediately slow down as Sully looked in the direction of Ty's gaze.  
  
"Well, if it isn't our friendly, neighborhood drug dealer/ne'er do well, Bennie," said Sully as he pulled over to the curb. "When will he learn," he said as he stopped the car and Ty got out.   
  
In a matter of a split second, Bennie had realized that he'd been caught in the middle of a drug deal and took off, dropping his stash of drugs on the street corner. Ty took off after him as Sully threw the car into reverse and turned around to follow his partner.  
  
It took only 2 1/2 blocks before Ty caught up with Bennie and he had him up against the side of the building upon Sully's arrival. Sully put the car in park and exited the vehicle to go and back up his partner, who was barely out of breath from his jaunt.  
  
"Bennie, Bennie, Bennie. What's it gonna take?" Sully asked him as Ty put the cuffs on the man.  
  
"I think this may be his third strike," Davis said in the man's ear as he finished patting him down for weapons.  
  
"You know, I do believe your right, Officer Davis," Sully said sarcastically.  
  
"Man, I can't go back there," Bennie said pleadingly. "I know things. Things that the cops will want to know," he said.  
  
"Yeah, we hear that about 80 times a day, Bennie," Ty replied as he pulled the man toward the RMP.  
  
"Yeah, well this is about a certain pedophile that the NYPD is looking for," he said gaining the two officers' complete attention.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	6. Chapter 6

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 6  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Katy was going over her receipts from earlier in the day. She had dropped the kids off to Mark's parents house. It seemed like it had been forever since they'd seen their grandparents so she could get some errands done. She'd been spending a lot of her time with the kids at home since all the stuff about Shaun had come to light. Sure, they'd seen her parents all the time, but that was only natural. She tried to keep Mark's parents involved with the children's lives to help keep Mark's memory alive for them.   
  
She thought back to this morning. How it seemed almost like old times - cooking breakfast, the kids bickering with each other and then listening to them rough house in the living room while she cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Mark always did that with the kids on the weekends when he wasn't working. It was like a ritual. They always seemed to be lurking around a corner to pounce on Mark as soon as he was done with his breakfast. It felt good to hear that again. It felt good to have someone around the house to take some of the load off of her. Sometimes she would get tired of being both parents. She thought of Bosco's laugh while he was playing with Mike, Matt and Shaun. Even Stephanie was trying to get in on the play and she remembered how protective Bosco had been while she was trying to play with the older kids - "Watch out for the baby, she's right behind you," he'd warn the kids as they tumbled on top of him. She remembered how gentle his voice was when he was bringing her in from the living room for breakfast that morning as he corrected her when she'd called him 'DaDa.' Her eyes filled briefly with tears at the thought that Stephanie would never know her father. She shook herself from those sad thoughts and continued entering the money she'd spent that day into the check register.  
  
But, soon she found herself thinking about Bosco again and she felt slightly guilty. It had only been two years since Mark had died. Should she be thinking about another man that way so soon? She couldn't talk to Mark's mother about it, she didn't want to upset her. And she felt funny talking to her Dad about it. Her mother had passed away about eight years ago. "Maybe I'll call Faith and see if she wants to have lunch sometime," she thought to herself. She'd always been able to talk to Faith about anything.  
  
She was suddenly brought from her thoughts by the sound of the television in the other room. The kids were increasing the volume because they were bickering over what they were going to watch. Katy looked up at the clock and saw that it was 9:00. "Okay! Time for bed!" she called out to them. She had put Stephanie down at her regular time, but let the others stay up a little later on Saturday nights because there was no school the next day. They'd always pop a movie in the VCR and she'd make popcorn for them.  
  
She heard the usual grumbling at the announcement of bedtime, but knew that they'd move anyway. They knew they could only push her so far and she heard them all start heading upstairs. "Get your PJs on and brush your teeth. I'll be right up. And don't wake Stephie," she added as they went on their way.   
  
She put her checkbook away and placed her half empty cup of tea in the sink and headed upstairs. She checked on Stephanie as the boys went about their bedtime routine and then she tucked them in one-by-one. She gave Mike and Matt a kiss and warning, "Remember, no talking, just go to sleep." They had finally settled into a routine of who was sleeping on the top bunk when and they rotated it on their own without fighting too much. She turned out the light and headed across the hall to Shaun's room and found him sitting on the back of his firetruck bed pretending to be going to a fire call.  
  
"Okay, buddy. Fire's out. Time to hit the rack before the next job," she said to him as she helped him under the covers. "You brushed your teeth good, right?" she asked and he nodded. "Okay. Sleep well. I love you," Katy said, brushing the hair off his forehead and kissing it.  
  
"'Night, Mommy," Shaun said to her. "I'll try not to have bad dreams tonight," he said apologetically.  
  
She knelt down alongside him and put her face down right next to his ear. Softly, she said, "don't you worry about it Shaun. You just call me if you need me and I'll be right here. You're safe now so try not to worry," Katy said as she looked over to make sure his nightlight was still plugged into the wall and shut off his overheard light on her way out. She left the door ajar so she could hear him if he needed her. She watched him snuggle down under the covers as a tear escaped down her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Shaun," she said quietly to herself. "I'll never let anyone hurt you again."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Across the street, at the back of Katy's house, sat George Palmer looking through his binoculars waiting for the house to go dark. He'd watched her leave this afternoon with the kids and he waited just long enough to be sure that she wasn't coming back because she'd forgotten something. He got out of his truck wearing the standard cable company uniform, clipboard in hand, and climbed the back fire escape up to the second level. He rigged up the lock on the window without incident and got in his truck and left. Now he sat, anxiously awaiting his chance.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco and Faith still looking for Palmer. Of course, now they knew his real name was Nathaniel James and Bosco couldn't shake the sick feeling in his stomach knowing that this guy had been on the streets for at least 25 years, leaving a path of destroyed lives in his wake.  
  
"I still can't believe this nutcase can keep getting these jobs," complained Faith. "I mean I thought that there were background check procedures to prevent this sort of thing," she finished looking over at her partner who had a smirk on his face.  
  
"What's so funny?" she asked him. "Bosco?" she said, louder, pulling him back into her conversation.  
  
"What? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about this morning," he said as he took a turn and continued down the road. Faith looked at him, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't and she saw the same smirk again, she pushed a little more.  
  
"What about this morning?" she asked. "I tried calling you after I got home last night and then again this morning to see if you'd gotten any sleep and all I got was your machine. You weren't out all night and day looking for this jerk again were you? Because you need to get some rest too. It's not healthy I'm telling you. You're gonna get yourself all run down and…" she stopped talking as she looked over at him and saw the look on his face.  
  
"Are you done, Mommy?" he said sarcastically, looking over at her. "As a matter of fact, I slept very well last night. And I had a great day today too."  
  
"So, do tell what brought about this wonderful night's sleep and sunny disposition," she teased him.  
  
"I stopped over to see Katy last night after work - with the Lieu's encouragement I might add - and we talked for a long time. I ended up falling asleep on her couch," he said, slightly embarrassed as he remembered. He looked over at Faith and saw her raise her eyebrows as if to say she didn't believe he didn't try to get her into bed.  
  
"Really. I woke up to the sound of the kids bickering and Stephanie sticking a pacifier in my ear," he said, chuckling out loud. Faith began to chuckle too and then they were interrupted.  
  
"Central to 55-David," came the dispatcher's voice.  
  
"David," replied Bosco into the microphone clipped to his shoulder.  
  
"55-David, report to the station to meet up with the Lieutenant and 55-Charlie," came the response.  
  
"What's up, Central?" questioned Bosco.  
  
"Boss just says to get into the station," answered the dispatcher.  
  
"55-David, 10-4," Bosco said as he looked over at Faith.  
  
"Apparently, the Boss found out you spent the night with his daughter," she teased him. Bosco made one of his faces and turned the car around to head back to the stationhouse.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC… 


	7. Chapter 7

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 7  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bennie sat in a room at the end of the hall waiting for the detectives to arrive. Lt. Swersky was pacing outside of the room as Faith and Bosco entered the station. Bosco saw him at the end of the hall and headed toward him immediately. He didn't like the look on the Lieutenant's face. Faith followed close behind.  
  
"Bosco, he looks really pissed," Faith commented behind him.  
  
"Not at me," Bosco said innocently.  
  
They reached the end of the hall as Sully stepped out of the room, leaving Ty behind to keep an eye on the prisoner.  
  
"Lieu, what's up?" Bosco asked, making eye contact with his friend.  
  
"Sully and Davis picked up Bennie a little while ago. He was caught making a deal on the corner of Arthur and 29th. Davis chased him a couple blocks and was cuffing him. Sully, you tell him the rest," the Lieutenant said, rubbing his chin with his hand, agitated.  
  
Sully nodded to the Lieutenant and continued. "Well, we were bustin' on him about it being his third strike and he said there was no way he could go back to prison. He said he knew things that we'd be interested in," Sully explained.  
  
"We told him that we only heard that about 80 times a day," Sully said, as Bosco suddenly interrupted, "Does this story have an intermission somewhere, Sul?"  
  
"Sorry. Yeah, the guy said that he had information on a certain child molester that the NYPD had an interest in," Sully finished.  
  
"Nice finish," commented Faith as she saw Lieu and Bosco lock eyes. Bosco stepped around Sully and put a hand on the doorknob intending to go "interview" the witness.  
  
Swersky put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Boscorelli, wait for the detectives. I don't want anything messed up if this guy's gonna lead us to Nathaniel James."  
  
"I'm not gonna screw anything up, Lieu. I just want two minutes with the guy," Bosco pleaded.  
  
"I'm serious Bosco. You're not to go in there unless the detectives tell you it's okay. Now, in my office. There's another matter I need to discuss with you - alone," the Lieutenant ordered, glancing at Faith and dismissing her. "He'll catch up with you in a few minutes."  
  
"Yes, Sir," said Faith as the two men headed down the hallway toward the office. She exchanged looks with Sully and rolled her eyes.   
  
"What'd he do this time?" Sully asked.   
  
"Apparently, he spent the night with the Lieutenant's daughter," she said, walking away and chuckling.  
  
"What?!" Sully exclaimed trying to catch up with her. "Details, Yokas! I need details!"  
*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^  
  
"Close the door," the Lieutenant said as Bosco followed him into his office.  
  
Bosco closed the door quietly and waited for the Lieutenant to motion for him to sit down. He didn't.  
  
"Sir?" Bosco said after a moment of awkward silence.  
  
"Bosco. I like you. You remind me of me when I was young. However, I also know about your reputation with the ladies," he said as Bosco got a lump in the pit of his stomach.  
  
"Yes, Sir," he said, trying to be respectful, but afraid of what was coming next.  
  
Swersky stood up and walked over to his window and looked out onto Arthur. The fire department was returning from another run. Many is the time he watched Mark returning from a call only to see Michael run toward the firehouse to greet them.  
  
"I talked with my grandchildren today on my way into the station," he said. "They told me how you woke up and had breakfast with them," he said, pausing for effect.  
  
"Sir, I can explain," Bosco stuttered, causing the Lieutenant to stifle a chuckle.  
  
"I just want to know what your intentions are, Officer Boscorelli. Toward my daughter, I mean," he said in a "father protecting his daughter's honor" tone.  
  
"Well, Sir. I went over there last night, like you suggested," Bosco was quick to throw in. "And, well, Sir. We got to talking and then we were watching some TV. I guess I fell asleep - ah, on the couch, Sir - and the next thing I knew, Sir, I had kids climbing all over me and there was bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen," Bosco said.  
  
"And?" the Lieutenant said, waiting for him to answer his original question - the one about what his intentions were toward his daughter.  
  
"And, Sir, I hung around and played with the kids, Sir," Bosco stammered. "I have to tell you, Sir, that I had an enjoyable day with them and I think that they did also."  
  
"Yes, it appears they did from what they told me," the Lieutenant said, turning back toward Bosco.  
  
"Sir?" Bosco said, waiting for the shoe to drop.  
  
"I'm waiting to hear what your intentions are towards my daughter, Officer Boscorelli," he stated again.  
  
"Well, Sir. I like Katy very much. And I think the kids are great too. I'd like to get to know them better, Sir - if that's okay," he answered.  
  
"I think that's a good plan. However, I want to warn you that despite her outward appearance, Katy is still reeling from the loss of Mark," Swersky said. "I'm asking you to take it slow with her. And to make absolutely sure of your motives before you lead her down 'that road,'" he paused.  
  
"Yes, Sir," Bosco said.  
  
"That is all, Bosco. You're dismissed, but I meant what I said about staying away from Bennie until the detectives have had a chance to talk to him first," he emphasized again.  
  
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Bosco replied, saluting the superior officer before turning to leave.  
  
"Oh, and Boscorelli," he said, making Bosco stop and turn to face him again.  
  
"Yes, Sir?"   
  
"I just want you to know that I'm behind you on this 100 percent," Swersky said, motioning in the direction of Katy's house with his head.  
  
"Yes, Sir. I promise to be careful, Sir," he said again before turning and leaving the room. He closed the door behind him and let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.  
  
"Well, you don't look the worse for wear," commented Faith as she walked up alongside him. "The detectives are in with Bennie. Care to watch through the mirror?"  
  
"Piece of cake," Bosco commented in response to Faith's observation. Both Officers walked into the room alongside the detectives to watch the interview through the two-way mirror.  
^*^*^^*^*^*^*^**  
George Palmer, also known as Nathaniel James, watched the house as the lights went out. He sat there for a while, to make sure that Shaun's mother was asleep then slowly and quietly exited his truck and made his way toward the fire escape.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC 


	8. Chapter 8

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 8  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco and Faith were watching the detectives interview Bennie Rodriguez through the two-way mirror. The detectives were "playing nice" with Bennie because they were trying to get information out of him. If it was up to Bosco, he'd beat it out of the jag-off.  
  
"So, Bennie, you told Officers Davis and Sullivan that you had some information that we'd be interested in," said the first detective that was sitting casually alongside Bennie. He was playing the "friendly" cop. The other detective was standing stiffly in the corner, being the "angry" cop.  
  
"Yeah, well I gotta know what's in it for me," commented Bennie, looking out of the corner of his eye toward "angry" cop. "It's all about what you can do for me."  
  
"C'mon Bennie. You know how it works. You watch television, don't you?" said "good" cop. "You gotta tell us what you have first."  
  
"Yeah, I watch that Andy Sipowicz guy on NYPD Blue screw people over all the time," Bennie snided.  
  
"Well, they get away with a lot on television that we don't," the detective explained calmly.  
  
"So, what do you know about this child molester we're looking for?" asked the detective, as the knot in Bosco's stomach tightened at the mention of the words 'child molester.'  
  
"I know that I got a call from a friend of mine from the joint. Luther Garrison. He told me that he knew of a guy that wanted to get some new papers," bragged Bennie.  
  
"And you were only too happy to oblige him, right Bennie?"  
  
"No, not me personally, Detective. Because that would be against the law," he said.  
  
"Let me guess. You knew of a guy that knew of a guy that might be able to help your friend Luther, right?" the "angry" detective said stepping away from the wall toward the table.  
  
"Maybe," replied Bennie. "But, like I said, I gotta know what's in it for me first."  
  
"What's in it for you is if you tell me right now what this guy's new papers say, I won't beat the crap out of you. Any maybe, just maybe if you tell me right now, I'll put in a good word with you to the officers that arrested you. You know, maybe get them to let you go this time," said the detective, moving closer to Bennie and causing him to lean away.  
  
"Alright, alright, Detective. You've convinced me with your charming personality," Bennie sneered. "I hear his new name is Oliver. James Oliver. I hear he's got all the necessities. You know, credit cards, driver's license, false social security number. Wouldn't be surprised though if he didn't take off already," informed Rodriguez.  
  
"So where was the last time this friend of Luther's saw James Oliver?" asked the "friendly" cop.  
  
"Last time I heard, he was eating dinner at the diner on 152nd and Amsterdam. But, that was quite a while ago," Bennie replied.  
  
"Okay, stand up," the detective said.  
  
The detective stood Bennie up. He cuffed him again and walked him out toward the holding cells. "Hey, man. I thought you said you'd let me go," argued Bennie.  
  
"I said I'd talk to the arresting officers about dropping the charges. I'm afraid that's all I can do Bennie," said the "angry" detective with fake sincerity.  
  
"Just like that Sipowicz character," Bennie commented as the cell door slammed shut and the two detectives walked away.  
  
"Live and learn," said the detective. "Live and learn," and with that he walked away.   
  
Lieutenant Swersky, who'd been watching the door to the interrogation room from the front desk because the Captain had told him to stay away from the case because he was too close to it, saw the detectives walk away after locking up Rodriguez. He looked down the hallway in time to see Bosco practically running out the door, with Faith Yokas close on his heels.  
  
The detectives approached the Lieutenant, "Lieu. You wanna go into your office and we'll fill you in?" The three men headed toward Swersky's office, with the two detectives unaware that Bosco and his partner had heard the information and were already out looking.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Katy had just finally fallen asleep. She'd been having a lot of trouble sleeping since this all started. She still could feel the nausea at hearing her son tell her about being molested by George Palmer. She had been unable to think for about three hours after she'd heard it from Shaun's mouth. Finally, she had managed to make her way down to the daycare center to talk to the director. Not getting any satisfaction there, she headed straight to her father's office at the 55th Precinct. And then, the ball had started rolling. Her father knew exactly what needed to be done. She should have gone to him right away. Then, maybe Palmer wouldn't have gotten away - wouldn't have been able to hurt anyone else's child.  
  
It was 2:30 a.m. when she heard the now familiar shreek of Shaun from his room. This one sounded a little different though. There was more terror in the scream this time. She ran to his room, not bothering to throw her robe on over her nightshirt. There she found the window open and Shaun gone.  
  
"Shaun!" she screamed out the window as she saw a pick-up truck, tires squealing, heading in the opposite direction on the street behind her house. "No!" she screamed, as Michael and Matthew came running into the room and Stephanie started to cry.   
  
A light in the house next to Katy's turned on as her neighbor, John Anderson, heard her scream.   
*********  
It had been a fairly mild evening and the windows in the sleeping quarters of the firehouse were open slightly. D.K. heard the terrible scream and sat straight up. Then he heard the same scream again and recognized that it was coming from outside. He ran to the window, accidentally kicking Jimmy's bunk on his way by to the window.   
  
"D.K.! What's the matter? Do we have a job?" asked Jimmy, slightly confused from being awakened from a sound sleep. He started to get up and stepped into his bunker pants that were always alongside his bunk.  
  
"I heard something outside. Someone screaming," D.K. said as the rest of the crew began to wake up and someone turned the light on.  
*******  
Katy was momentarily frozen when she finally heard a banging on her front door. She recognized the voice of Mr. Anderson from next door.  
  
"Katy! Katy! Open the door. What's wrong? Katy," he yelled, banging on the door.  
  
Michael ran to the door to open it for Mr. Anderson.   
  
"Michael. Where's your Mom?" asked Mr. Anderson.   
  
"She's in Shaun's room," he said, pointing up the stairs.   
  
"What's wrong with Shaun?" Mr. Anderson said, dialing 911 on the cordless phone that he found in the holder by the stairs as he ran up them.  
  
"I don't know. Shaun's not in there," Michael said, fear starting to grip him as he heard Matthew and Stephanie crying now.  
*******  
  
"9-1-1. What is your emergency?" came the operator's voice over the phone.  
  
"My name is John Anderson and I'm at 472 Arthur. I need the police here. Someone has taken my neighbor's son from his room," said Mr. Anderson as he picked up the screaming baby and herded the children back to their room until the police got there. He was unable to move Katy from Shaun's room and prayed that the police would hurry up.  
********  
D.K. saw the lights on across the way from the firehouse and immediately had a bad feeling. "I think it came from Katy's house," said D.K. and he threw on his bunker pants and ran down the stairs with Jimmy following close behind. Doc and Alex joined them, not knowing if it was a medical emergency or not. The rest of the crew ran along behind them. The members of House 55 ran across the street at the same time that Lt. Swersky came running out of the front of the Precinct, with two officers following close behind.  
  
**************  
  
"55-David," came the call over the radio.   
  
Faith responded, "55-David, Central. Go ahead."  
  
"55-David, respond to 472 Arthur, for a possible child abduction from that location," advised the dispatcher.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" yelled Bosco as he locked up the brakes and turned the car around and headed back toward Katy's house. Faith reached over and turned on the lights and siren as Bosco put the accelerator pedal to the floor.  
  
"10-4, Central. We're in route," advised Faith as the dispatcher contacted 55-Charlie to back them up.  
*************  
  
"Dammit," said Sully as Ty advised the dispatcher that they'd received the call. Sully flipped on the lights and siren and took off in the direction of Katy's house.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	9. Chapter 9

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 9  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco brought the patrol car to an abrupt halt in front of Katy's house. There were people milling about, but he pushed right past them and headed into the house. He saw Lieutenant Swersky standing in the living room next to his daughter, listening to the detectives. He saw that Alex, Jimmy and D.K. were amusing the kids in the corner. Michael was keeping one eye on his mother, trying to be the "man of the house."  
  
Bosco made eye contact with Michael and gave him a wink before continuing over to Katy and the Lieutenant. The boy immediately relaxed a little. He liked Bosco and trusted him.  
  
"Lieu, what happened?" he said quietly, trying to remain calm in front of the kids, as he reached to put a hand on Katy's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Katy reached up and put her hand over Bosco's and looked up at him. The pain he saw in her eyes made his heart ache. She'd been through so much.  
  
"Well, Katy said that she woke up when she heard Shaun scream. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:30," he started to explain, looking down at his daughter and noticing Bosco's hand still on her shoulder. "This man has potential," he thought to himself.  
  
Katy continued, "It was a different scream than the one he has with the nightmares and I ran in right away. But, he was gone," she trailed off, fresh tears springing from her eyes. Bosco knelt down alongside Katy and spoke softly into her ear.  
  
"Katy, I'm going to find him. Look at me," he said, and she looked him in the eye. "I'm going to find him and bring him back to you," he said again firmly.  
  
"I know you are," she said, leaning her head into his shoulder as he put an arm around her bringing her close.  
  
The detective started to interrupt to try to get more information. He hadn't been having much luck. She seemed to be in shock and wasn't recalling things too clearly. Lieutenant Swersky put a hand up to stop the detective from speaking and continued to listen.  
  
"Katy, tell me what you remember. I need to know everything so I can bring Shaun back," he said calmly. Faith stood off to the side. She'd seen him 'on a mission' before, but this was different. She smiled at the love she saw in his eyes.  
  
Katy sat back up and looked over at her children to see that they were still okay. She looked back at Bosco and said, "I ran into his room and felt a breeze. I looked over at his window and saw that it was open. Bosco, that window has always been locked. And I know that Shaun can't reach it," she said, trying not to break down again.  
  
"Katy, stay with me," Bosco said, calmly urging her on.  
  
She took a deep breath and continued. "I ran over to the window and looked out. I saw a pick-up truck speeding away down the street behind my house. The next thing I knew, John Anderson was behind me - Michael let him in. He said he heard me scream and then he called the police," she finished, looking back at Bosco.  
  
"Okay, Katy. That's good. Did you touch the window lock?" he asked her. She shook her head no. "Katy, I'm going to go look for him. I have my cell phone with me so you can call me no matter what. You still have the number right?" he asked, writing the number on one of his cards and handing it to the Lieutenant for safekeeping. She shook her head numbly and Bosco stood up, still not taking his hand off her shoulder.  
  
"Bosco," the Lieutenant said.   
  
"I'll bring him back, Sir," Bosco said, not needing the Lieutenant to finish the sentence. Bosco walked over to Michael, Matthew and Stephanie who were still being occupied by Alex, Jimmy and D.K. Stephanie reached up for Bosco and he took her into his arms.  
  
"Dada," she again said and Bosco hugged her tightly and said, "No, Stephie. Bosco." He knelt down so that he was at eye level with Michael and Matthew.  
  
"Boys, take care of your Mom and Stephanie. I'm going to go get Shaun," he said with conviction.  
  
"Thanks Bosco," said Michael simply. He handed Stephanie back to Alex and walked out the front door, with Faith right behind him. D.K. and Jimmy looked at each other. "I'd hate to be that guy when Bosco finds him," D.K. simply said as Alex and Jimmy just nodded in agreement.  
  
Sully and Davis, along with other on-duty and off-duty officers, were waiting outside. Bosco relayed the information he'd gotten from Katy and everyone left to start looking.  
  
Bosco got behind the wheel and Faith got in on the passenger side. She looked over at her partner and saw him staring straight ahead, his knuckles white due to the grip. She waited a moment and said, "Bosco?"  
  
"What?" he asked her.  
  
"We're gonna find him. Let's go," she said, trying to shake him from the terrible thoughts she knew he was having.  
  
He looked over at her and they each exchanged a knowing glance with the other. Bosco started the car, pulled away from the curb and headed in the direction that Katy had said the truck had gone. They waited for the information that was being run through the Department of Motor Vehicles computer on George Palmer's aliases, including his newest, to get a possible description of the vehicle.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"When can I go home, George?" asked Shaun quietly as he sat in a chair in the corner of the motel room. George was looking out the window from behind the curtains to see if he'd been followed.  
  
"I told you, my new name is James. And you're going to be living with me now, Shaun, so you better get used to it. Your Mom doesn't want you anymore. That's why she left the window open - so I could take you away," he said, looking at the child and seeing his eyes begin to fill up.  
  
"No! You're lying. Mom would never let me go. She told me so," Shaun argued back. Palmer let out a loud sigh and ignored the child that was softly crying and turned on the television. He wanted to see if there was any news bulletins out yet. He'd made sure that no one had seen him bring Shaun into the room with him and was pretty sure that since the motel clerk hadn't even looked up at him, he wouldn't be able to recognize him if they did show his picture on the television. He's paid for a week in advance, so they wouldn't be bothering him for anything.  
  
"Oh, Shaun. It'll be okay. You'll see. I'll take good care of you," Palmer said soothingly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	10. Chapter 10

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 10  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bosco, Faith, Sully and Ty had patrolled the entire night with no sign of James Oliver's pale green, rusty, 1982 Ford pick-up. Katy had called Bosco twice during the night. She hadn't remembered any more details, she just had to feel like she was doing something.  
  
Faith and Bosco rode in silence when his phone rang again. He looked at the number display on the dial, recognizing it as Katy's house. He took a deep breath, not knowing what to tell her and answered the phone.  
  
"Hey Katy," he said into the phone. "What's up?" he asked her quietly as Faith looked straight ahead out of the window. She had seen the toll this was taking on Bosco, how exhausted he was. It wasn't just physical exhaustion, he was mentally fatigued by all this. She tried not to, but what else could she do - he was sitting right next to her in a car so she heard his end of the conversation.  
  
"No, nothing yet. But I'm not stopping until I find him Katy," he said with conviction.  
  
"I know. How are the others?" he asked. He was worried about Michael. He had mentioned to him before how his grandfather had told him he was the man of the house and he had to take care of his mother. Bosco knew it was just something that grownups say. No one expected Michael to take care of anything, but Michael had taken it to heart. He knew from the way Michael talked about his Mom and his brothers and sister.  
  
"That's good. They shouldn't worry about it. They're kids - they should be sleeping and eating and playing. I'm sorry, Katy," Bosco said sadly.  
  
"I know, but I just feel like I..." he was interrupted. "Is that Michael?" he asked, hearing a voice in the background. "Let me talk to him," he asked, waiting for Katy to hand him the phone.  
  
"What're you doing up, Little Man?" he asked him, trying to put some lightness in his voice.  
  
"I know, Mikey. But, I'm on it. You need to get some rest and help your Mom take care of Matt and Stephanie," he said, trying to coax him into going back to sleep. "Promise me that you'll try, okay?" he said, waiting for a response. Faith looked over at Bosco and saw a tear form in his eye.  
  
"No Mikey. You did everything right. This is in no way your fault. No one knew that this would happen. Do you understand?" he asked, practically pleading for him to understand. Bosco needed to know that he didn't blame himself. He was doing enough of that for both of them.  
  
He must have calmed down again, because Faith heard Bosco quietly say, "Alright. Then, you'll get some more sleep, right? That's good. I'll feel better knowing that you're taking care of things there. Thanks for helping me out Michael. Put your Mom back on, okay? I won't, I promise," he said, waiting for Katy to come back on the phone.  
  
"Hey," he said to her again. "No, it's okay. Really. You can call me anytime, no matter what. Okay?" he said with sincerity. Faith heard him chuckle a little. "I know. I keep trying to tell her," he said with a smile.  
  
"Okay. Try to get some rest. I'll stop by when my shift is over before I head out again. No. No one's leaving. Everyone's staying until we find this jag-off," he said, and later followed up with a grimace and a roll of his eyes.  
  
"I know you don't like that word. I'm sorry. No, I won't say it around the kids. Now get some rest, okay? Your Dad still there?" he asked her. "Good. Okay, I'll see you in a little bit. What?"  
  
He cleared his throat and stuttered slightly, "Um, well uh, thanks," he said finally. "Me too, I think," he admitted, blushing slightly. But, luckily, it was still dark and Faith couldn't see it.  
  
"Um, yes. I'd like to discuss that further when all this is cleared up. Okay, bye." He said, hanging up the phone and putting it back in his vest pocket. He stole a glance at Faith and swore to himself as he saw the smirk on her face. She knew exactly what they were talking about.  
  
"Keep trying to tell her what?" Faith asked, knowing that they must have been talking about Stephanie.  
  
Bosco smiled, "Stephanie keeps calling me Dada." He laughed again thinking about it, "I just tell her no, Bosco. Then she smiles and giggles or something'," he said.  
  
They continued to patrol their precinct while the sun came up. "Just another sunny day," Bosco commented as he squinted at the sunlight coming through the windshield.  
  
"We'll, find him, Bos," Faith assured him. "Let's head in. They'll want the car for the next shift. We'll split up and use our cars to keep looking - they'll be less noticed if he is still around," she said. Bosco nodded his head in agreement as he headed the car back to the station.  
  
They saw Sully and Davis already changed and waiting outside the house for them. Bosco parked the car and he and Faith grabbed their personal belongings out and headed toward Ty and Sully.  
  
"We're gonna head north," Ty said.  
  
Bosco nodded and said, "Okay, we'll head south. I just gotta check on Katy first," he said, heading into the station to change.  
  
"Is he gonna be okay?" asked Sully, watching Bosco walk into the station his shoulders hunched in defeat and exhaustion.  
  
"Yeah, as soon as we bring Shaun home," Faith said.  
  
"Then, let's do it," said Ty as they headed over to Sully's car and Faith turned to walk into the station to change.  
  
"Yeah, let's do it," Faith said to herself.  
~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	11. Chapter 11

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 11  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco finished changing and headed out of the locker room. He'd told Faith that he'd meet her out front in a few minutes. "I just wanna check in. You know, see if she needs anything - besides her son back," he said looking down at his shoes.  
  
Faith put a hand on her friend's arm. "We'll find him, Bos. You know we will," she said, giving his arm a gentle squeeze. He looked up at her and saw the confidence in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, definitely," he said. "You get changed and I'll meet you out front," he said, turning to head out of the locker room. Sully and Ty had finished changing and walked over to Faith.  
  
"Boy, this is really eating at him," commented Sully. "I mean, it's eating at me too, but he looks terrible," he finished.  
  
"Yeah, well, he's really gotten close to Katy and the kids in the last few weeks," Faith explained still looking at the door that her partner had just exited.  
  
"Well, that explains why I haven't seen him around too much after the shift and days off," said Ty.  
  
"I didn't know that," Sully said simply. "Well," he said, taking a deep breath. "Let's hit it Davis," Sully said as they prepared to head out in Ty's truck to continue looking.   
  
Ty followed his partner out the door and turned back to Faith. "I've got my cell if you find anything."  
  
"Yeah, I've got mine and Bosco's got his too," she said. "See you out there, guys. And, by the way, Bosco really appreciates what you're doing. He's just a little too close to this one," she finished.  
  
"Understood. I know he'd do the same for any one of us," Ty said, turning to go and letting the locker room door shut behind him. Faith went about getting her street clothes on. After she was dressed, she sat on the bench and dialed her phone.  
  
"Hey," she said as Fred answered the phone. "Yeah, we're still looking. Nothing yet," she informed him.  
  
"I know. I'll get some rest a little later, I promise," she said, smiling into the phone. He was such a mother hen sometimes. But, she loved that about him. She loved that he let her be who she had to be. She knew he didn't like her being a cop. She remembered the look on his face each time a cop got killed in the line of duty. And the look after 9/11. But, he knew she couldn't give it up. It was part of who she was. She was finally pulled back to the present by Fred's voice on the other end.  
  
"Oh, well, we're all gonna head out in our own cars and keep looking. We can spread out more and people won't be hiding like they do when they see a cruiser coming down the street. How's the kids?" she asked him, thankful that it wasn't her dealing with the loss of one of her kids.  
  
"Great. Give them a kiss for me and tell Emily 'good luck' on her math test today. Tell her I'm 'counting' on her. Get it," she said, breaking up. "Fred, that was funny. Okay, maybe you're right. I'm just too tired. I'll see you all in a little while. I love you too," she finished, hanging up the phone and gathering her things to head outside.  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
Bosco quietly opened the front door and stepped inside. He just wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing. He looked into the living room and saw Lieutenant Swersky asleep on the couch. He must have heard Bosco come in, because he opened his eyes and sat up.  
  
"Anything?" he asked Bosco.  
  
"No, Sir. I'm sorry," Bosco told him quietly so as not to wake anyone else up. "We just changed shifts. A bunch of us are gonna go out in our own cars and keep looking. We figure maybe we can get closer if we're not sitting in an RMP," he explained. "How's everyone doing?"  
  
"Katy's upstairs with the kids. They're all sleeping in her bed with her. She's afraid to let them go. I think she got a good night's sleep, because I haven't heard her walking around up there," the Lieutenant said.  
  
Bosco chuckled slightly, remembering the three phone calls from her. "Yeah, well I talked to her quite a bit during the night," he said, looking at the Lieutenant, showing him the cell phone he was holding in his hand. The Lieutenant chuckled and stood up to head into the kitchen to make some fresh coffee. "I see a light in her eyes again when she talks about you, Bosco," the Lieutenant said as he walked by Bosco, causing him to inwardly smile.   
  
Bosco followed him out to the kitchen and looked around, remembering the breakfast he shared in this room with Katy and the kids. The knot in his stomach tightened and he turned when he sensed that someone was behind him. He turned to see Katy standing there, hope in her eyes. She hoped that Bosco had found her son and brought him home to her.  
  
He walked over to her. "Anything?" she asked, her voice shaky. He shook his head. "Not yet," he told her gently. "We're on our way back out again. I just wanted to check in," he said.   
  
Katy turned away, trying to hide her tears from Bosco and her father. Bosco put a hand on her shoulder as her father came around the table to embrace her. He looked at Bosco's face and saw how much this was eating at him. He knew that Bosco wanted to get back out there and start looking, but he didn't want to leave Katy like this either.  
  
"Fresh coffee's done if you want to take some with you," he said, giving Bosco a way to leave Katy. "I've got her," he said gently. Bosco went over and got himself and Faith a cup of coffee, pouring them into travel mugs that Katy had in the cabinet. He walked toward the front door and looked back at Katy, who was watching him leave. Their eyes connected and held for a moment until Bosco gave the slightest nod of his head. She knew with that nod that Bosco wouldn't give up until he brought Shaun home to her. He opened the door and headed out, closing the door softly behind him so as not to wake up the kids.  
  
Lieutenant Swersky sat his daughter down at the table. He walked over to get her a cup of coffee. With his back to her, she said, "He's a good man, Dad." He stopped what he was doing, but didn't turn around. There was an awkward silence and then her father realized what she needed.   
  
He slowly turned to his daughter, bringing her coffee over. "Yes, Katy. He is. And you can count on him. He'll always be there for you and the kids. It's not too soon," he told her, telling her that it was okay to start living again - to start moving on to live without Mark.  
  
She gave her father a slight smile and took a sip of the coffee, grimacing at whatever recipe her father used for coffee. She made a mental note to show him exactly how a good cup of coffee is made.  
^*^*^*^*^*^  
"So, how's she doing?" Faith asked Bosco as they both got in her car. It was less conspicuous than his blue mustang. "As well as can be expected," he said, looking over at the house before he started the car.  
  
Of course, Bosco was driving. It kept him calm. Faith knew that and didn't mind a bit. "Thanks for the coffee," she said, taking a sip of the hot beverage.  
  
"Oh my God!" she said, not wanting to swallow it, but having no other choice. "Did you make this?" she said, opening the door to the car and dumping it out on the sidewalk.  
  
Bosco laughed as he took a big sip of the steaming coffee. "No! Lieu made it. What was I going to do, refuse his coffee? I have to work with the man," he said, laughing at the look still on Faith's face.  
  
"Well, that's above and beyond, if you ask me," Faith said, setting the now empty cup in the cup holder.  
  
Bosco's smile faded as he got his mind back on business. "So, which way did Ty and Sully go?" he asked Faith.  
  
"They're taking northside. Doherty and D.K. are heading east. Doc and Carlos are heading west. I guess that leaves us with south," Faith reported.  
  
Bosco looked at his partner. "We really do work with a great bunch," he said, amazed at the support that the police and fire department were providing on their time off. "They all had families of their own to go home to," he thought to himself as he pulled away and headed south.  
  
"Yeah well, it's like you said. This is family. This one's personal," Faith told him.  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
Palmer watched as Shaun slept. The boy had been too upset last night to reason with. He decided to let him sleep and then get him a good breakfast and start fresh. He'd forced some medication down his throat and waited for him to fall asleep.  
  
Now, he watched the sun coming through the dingy curtains and slowly creep across the wall toward the bed. He really was a beautiful child. And he looked so angelic as he slept. "Yes," he thought to himself. "This is going to be good, Shaun. I'll make you happy."   
  
He watched as the boy stirred in the bed, his eyes suddenly opening as he remembered the events of the previous night. His eyes started to water and he didn't want to move. Didn't want George to know that he was awake. But, it was too late. He'd seen his eyes open.  
  
"Good morning, Shaun. I trust you had a good night's sleep?" he said to the boy, trying to sound chipper.  
  
Shaun remained quiet, refusing to speak to the man. "Not a morning person, I see," said Palmer as he turned on the television to cartoons and went into the bathroom to get cleaned up before taking the boy for breakfast. He left the door open so that he could keep an eye on Shaun - not that he'd be able to open the deadbolt that was high on the door.  
  
Shaun sat up on the bed, pulling his knees up to his chest. He stared at the television, not really seeing what was on it. He thought of his mother and the terrible scream he heard as George stuffed him into his truck. He tried to call out to her, but the tape over his mouth prevented it. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep while he was crying.   
  
George finished cleaning up and came back out into the room. "I want to go home," Shaun said to him. George looked at him. "Shaun, I told you that you're home is with me now. Your mother told me to take care of you," he tried to persuade him.  
  
"NO! My mother would never do that. And, even if she did, she'd let me go with Bosco!" Shaun shouted. George quickly tried to quiet the boy, but wondered who this Bosco person was.  
  
"Okay, Shaun. Just calm down. Everything is going to be fine. Now, who is this Bosco person you mention? Maybe I know him," George said pleasantly, trying to calm Shaun down. He didn't want him making too much noise and alerting his neighbors.  
  
"Bosco. He's a friend of my Mom's. He plays with us. He works with my Grampa at the police station," Shaun said. "And, he's not gonna be very happy that I'm with you," Shaun informed him as he crossed his arms in anger.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to see about that," Palmer said, realizing that Bosco and Officer Boscorelli were one in the same person.  
  
"Now, are you hungry? Let's go get some pancakes at the diner across the street," he said. Shaun thought for a moment and decided that he was pretty hungry after all. He climbed down from the bed and followed George to the door. George took hold of his hand firmly and walked him across the street for breakfast.  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
  
"Wait a minute. Can that be?" Jimmy Doherty said to D.K. as they were driving down 137th Avenue.  
  
"What?" asked D.K. looking in the direction that Jimmy pointed to.  
  
"In that diner. I swear I just saw Shuan walking with some guy into that diner," Jimmy replied, turning in his seat so that he didn't lose sight of the door.  
  
D.K. stepped on the brakes and quickly brought the car around. He parked just across the street from the diner. They didn't know if they should go in or just call for Bosco. They didn't want to take the chance of Palmer getting away from them.   
  
"Shaun knows the both of us. If he sees us walking in and says hello, Palmer's going to bolt out of there," Jimmy said, not taking his eyes off the door of the diner.  
  
"Gimme your cell phone," D.K. said. Jimmy handed him the phone. "Who're you gonna call?"  
  
"I'm gonna call Billy and have his wife come down here. He lives just down the road. Shaun won't remember her and she can go in and look around without being noticed," D.K. said as he dialed Billy Walsh's number.  
  
"Hello," came the voice on the other end.   
  
"Hey, Billy. It's D.K. Look I'm at the diner on 135th with Jimmy. I think we just saw Shaun go into a diner with some guy. He knows what we look like. Do you think your wife would come down here and take a look for us? We don't want to scare him off before we call Bosco," D.K. explained.  
  
"Hold on," Billy said, putting his hand over the phone and talking to someone that D.K. assumed was his wife.  
  
"Yeah, we'll be right there," Billy said.  
  
"Great. We're parked out front, across the street," D.K. said hanging up the phone. To Jimmy, he said, "They're on their way."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	12. Chapter 12

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 12  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Davis and Sully were traveling down 121st, each looking out of their side of the vehicle in silence.   
  
"Do you think this guy's still in the area?" Ty said as he brought his truck through the parking lots of the many motels along the street.  
  
"I don't know, Davis. But, I know they had people in the train and bus stations within a half hour of him snatching Shaun up. I can't really see the guy having the money to fly anywhere after he bought himself a new identity. The detectives checked all his aliases for bank accounts and only found one with about $75 in it," Sully replied.  
  
"Yeah, I just can't believe we haven't found anything yet," he said, as his eyes suddenly fell on an old light green pick-up truck with rust. He continued past the vehicle not wanting to draw attention to anyone that may be watching the vehicle.  
  
"Sul," Davis said looking in the rearview mirror. "We just passed a truck matching the description. I didn't want to stop until we could see if there was someone watching the truck," he told his partner.  
  
"Good thinking. Circle around and let me out. I'll walk by and see if I can see anything inside it," Sully advised Ty.  
  
Ty parked his truck a couple blocks away and told Sully where he'd seen the vehicle. Sully got out, adjusted his off-duty gun on his side so that he was sure it was hidden by his jacket and meandered toward the lot that Ty indicated. He walked across the lot and alongside the truck. He pretended to trip over something and stopped to examine his ankle, leaning a hand on the truck. He glanced in the window and saw a blanket on the seat with firetrucks on it. He remembered that Katy had told them that Shaun was wrapped in the blanket as he was put into Palmer's truck. He glanced around and started to walk away when he was stopped by a voice behind him.  
  
"That your truck?" asked the man gruffly.  
  
"What? No. Why?" Sully asked him. Ty noticed the man approach Sully and got out of his vehicle and started toward him to back-up his partner.  
  
"Cause it's been parked there all night and it don't belong here," informed the man. Sully held up a hand to Davis to tell him that he was fine and to stay back.  
  
"It has?" asked Sully. "Did you see the guy that left it here?"  
  
"Nah. The wife said that a guy got out of it with a little kid. Kid was crying. They walked off down that way she said," the man indicated which direction they had gone.  
  
"A guy is walking with a kid crying in the middle of the night and you didn't think that was unusual?" Sully asked trying not to sound too irritated with the man.  
  
"Look around here, Mister. There ain't too much that isn't unusual around here," the man said, looking around at his surroundings.  
  
"Yeah, I see what you mean," Sully said, reaching in his back pocket. Discreetly showing the man his badge, Sully said, "Look, I'm with the New York City Police Department and we're looking for the little boy that was in this truck. He was kidnapped. If you see this guy anymore, please call us right away. Don't approach him, but call us right away. Will you do that?" Sully asked the man.  
  
"Yes, sir. I can do that. I'm sorry about the little boy, but the wife and me just didn't think anything of it. I hope you find him soon and okay," said the man, walking away to tell his wife what was going on.  
  
Sully walked back over to Ty and told him what was going on. "Call Bosco and let him know what's going on. I'm gonna call the impound and have the truck towed so it looks like it's just getting towed for being parked illegally - you know like the owner of the lot had it towed away," Sully said.  
  
"Good idea," Ty said as he dialed Bosco's number.  
^*^*^*^*^  
  
Bosco and Faith were driving along. It was a sunny day and the sun was making Faith sleepy because she wasn't driving. Bosco looked over at her.  
  
"How about if I drop you off at home so you can get some sleep, Faith," he said to his partner. He knew she didn't want to give up, but she needed to get some rest. They both had to work again this afternoon.  
  
"No. I'm fine, Bos. I wanna keep looking," she said, trying to shake the cobwebs from her head.  
  
"Look, if we don't find him today, we're gonna keep ducking calls and looking tonight. So, I need you to help keep me awake tonight, okay? Besides, you haven't seen your kids yet today, right?" Bosco said, trying to reason with her.  
  
Faith thought about Emily and Charlie. The more she thought about Shaun being gone, the more she wanted to go home and hug her own kids. She looked at her watch and saw that they'd be in school anyway. "Nah, the kids are still in school anyway."  
  
"All the more reason to go home and get some rest. You won't have anyone keeping you awake," Bosco said, pulling onto Faith's street before she even realized it. He pulled the car to a stop at the curb and she looked out the window to see her own apartment building.  
  
"Bos," she started only to be interrupted by her partner.  
  
"I'll pick you up at 2:30 for our shift. I'm gonna use your car if that's okay," he said to her.  
  
She took a deep breath and was about to give in when Bosco's phone rang. He grabbed the phone and hit the button. "Boscorelli," he answered into the phone.  
  
Faith listened as his voice got a little excited. "Where?"  
  
"Okay, I'm on the way. Keep away from it. We don't want to scare this jag-.... guy away," he said. Faith smiled at Bosco's attempt not to use his favorite word. He hung up the phone and looked at his partner, noticing the smile on her face.  
  
"What?" he said.  
  
"Nothing. What's up?" Faith said, changing the subject.  
  
"Sully and Davis found the truck. No sign of Shaun or Palmer. They're having the truck towed to impound so the crime scene techs can go over it there," Bosco relayed as he pulled away from the curb and headed toward Sully and Davis.  
~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	13. Chapter 13

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 13  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Billy and his wife walked up to D.K.'s car and lightly tapped on the window, causing both men in the car to jump. They were busy keeping an eye on the diner in case Shaun came out. Jimmy rolled down the window as Billy and his wife leaned down, out of sight.  
  
"Thanks for coming. We're not sure, but I think I saw Shaun go into that diner with a guy. I don't know what this Palmer character - or whatever his name is now - looks like, but I think we should check it out," Jimmy explained.  
  
"Did you call the police?" Billy asked, looking across the street.  
  
"No. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up in case I'm wrong. That's why we called you. D.K. knew you were close by and could be here in a few minutes," Jimmy said.  
  
"Do you remember what Shaun looks like?" Billy asked his wife. "I could come in with you," Billy said.  
  
"I remember him, but whatever you think is best," she said to the three men.  
  
There was a moment of silence while they thought about what to do. Finally, Billy's wife spoke up, "Okay. I'll go by myself. It's just a diner," she said. "And, you're all right here, right?"  
  
"Right," the three replied in unison.  
  
"Okay, then here I go. I'll walk in and get a cup of coffee at the counter. If I don't see him, I'll come back out. If I see him, I'll call you on the cell. What's your number?" she said to Jimmy. He wrote down the number and she started across the street.  
  
Jimmy's phone rang and he quickly answered it in order to get the line clear before Billy's wife entered the diner.  
  
"Doherty," he said into the phone as he watched her get to the other side of the street.  
  
"Hey Jimmy. It's Bosco. Sully and Davis found the truck. Some guy remembers seeing a guy matching Palmer's description with a young boy who was crying," Bosco told Jimmy. He had met up with Sully and Davis and gotten the information.  
  
"Yeah, well I was just about to call you. D.K. and I think we know where Shaun is. We saw a guy with someone who looked an awful lot like Shaun walk into the diner on 135th. Billy Walsh's wife is going in to see if it's him. We figured Shaun wouldn't recognize her as easily and tip off Palmer if it is him in there. She's supposed to call me right back," Jimmy said into the phone.  
  
"I'm on my way over there. Keep me posted," Bosco said as he hung up the phone and ran toward Faith's car with Faith right behind him.  
  
"Bos! What's up?" Faith called to her partner as they both got in Faith's car.  
  
"Jimmy and D.K. think they saw Shaun. Walsh's wife is going in to look around," he explained. "Keep the phone on, Sul," he called to Sully as he ran toward the car.  
  
"You wanna call Katy?" Faith asked as Bosco put the car in drive and took off.  
  
"Not yet. I don't wanna get her hopes up," Bosco said, trying not to let his own hopes get too high.  
*^*^*^*^*^*^  
Billy, Jimmy and D.K. had been sitting in the car across the street from the diner for about ten minutes with no news from Billy's wife. "What d'you think?" D.K. said to his two friends.  
  
"I dunno. Maybe I should go in there," Billy said, starting to get worried. Bosco and Faith pulled up behind D.K.'s car and got out and walked up to the side.  
  
"Anything yet?" Bosco asked, looking across the street and feeling for his off-duty weapon on his belt.  
  
"Not yet. Billy was just gonna go over and check," Jimmy said.  
  
"How long's it been?" Faith asked.  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
Billy's wife entered the coffee shop and walked slowly over to the counter as she looked around. She saw a man with a young boy sitting in the rear of the diner, by the restrooms. She sat down and ordered a coffee when the waitress came over. She took a few sips of her coffee and decided to walk back to the ladies room to see if she could get a better look.  
  
"Be right back," she said to the waitress as she got up and headed to the back of the diner. She walked slowly by the table that the man and boy were sitting at. She opened the door to the ladies room and purposely turned to close the door so she could look back at the boy. She recognized him at once and quickly closed the door as she thought she saw a look of recognition come across his face.  
  
She leaned against the counter in the bathroom and dialed Jimmy's number, her hand shaking. "I hope he doesn't say anything to Palmer to make him bolt out of here," she thought to herself as Jimmy picked up on the first ring.  
  
"It's him. He's in the back by the bathrooms," she reported. "I'm still in the bathroom. What do you want me to do?" she asked, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt.  
  
"Hold on," Jimmy said.  
  
He turned to Bosco and Faith. "She said he's in there. He's in the back by the bathrooms. She's in the ladies room now. What should she do?" Jimmy asked him.  
  
"Nothing. I don't want her to get hurt," Bosco said. "I'll take care of this guy myself," he said, standing up straight preparing to go across the street.  
  
Faith grabbed on tightly to him. "Bosco! You can't just barge in there. You don't know if he's got a weapon or an accomplice. Just stop and think for a minute," she urged him, not letting go until she knew that he had calmed down.  
  
"Tell her to go back and sit down, but to keep an eye on them. Tell her to call back right away if they try to leave," Bosco said to Jimmy. Jimmy relayed the information to her and hung up the phone.  
  
Bosco dialed Ty's cell phone to let them know what was going on.  
  
"We'll be right there, Bos. Don't do anything until we get there. I'm calling the precinct to send over some backup," Ty said to him, hearing the tension in his friend's voice.  
  
"Tell the RMPs to stay out of sight. We're gonna get this jag-off without scaring Shaun any more than he already is," Bosco said, hanging up the phone.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	14. Chapter 14

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 14  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco hung up the phone. He'd just spoken with the detectives assigned to the case. The detectives were going to take care of positioning the uniformed officers so they didn't scare Palmer away. He wanted to take this guy himself, but didn't want to be accused of hiding information. Most of all, he didn't want to make a mistake and ruin the case. He wanted this jag-off in jail for a long time.  
  
He told Jimmy to tell Walsh's wife to go back to the counter and finish her coffee, but to try to see if Palmer was carrying a weapon on the way by. He sent Billy in to sit at the counter with his wife to help keep an eye on things. He sent Jimmy and Faith to the back of the diner. He wasn't about to let this guy slip away. He thought about calling Katy to let her know that they found him, but then decided not to. He was afraid she'd try to come down here and if things didn't go well, she didn't need to see it.  
  
The detectives had sent in a plainclothes police officer wearing a wire so she could radio those outside of what was happening. Detective Sloan had given Faith and Bosco each a radio so they could monitor the situation.  
  
Suddenly, the radio crackled and the policewoman's voice was heard. "Palmer is paying the bill and preparing to leave. He seems oblivious to us," she advised. "He's walking toward the front of the diner," she advised as Bosco began to cross the street so that he could be at the door when Palmer came out. He positioned himself just to the side of the door so that Palmer couldn't see him, but he could see Palmer. The door opened and Shaun came down the stairs first, with Palmer's hand gripping the back of his shirt. Bosco heard him talking to Shaun.  
  
"Stay right next to me, boy. A mistake on your part now, could be the last mistake you make. It's up to you whether we're happy together or if I'M just happy," Palmer warned Shaun. They came down the steps of the diner and turned right heading away from Bosco.  
  
Bosco fell into step a few feet back behind some other people on the sidewalk. He put the radio to his mouth and whispered. "I have him. I'm following him on foot. He's headed south. As soon as he reaches that empty lot, I'm gonna take him," he advised. The detective didn't want Bosco to effect the arrest. He'd heard about Bosco's temper and didn't want the case destroyed by an overzealous cop.  
  
"Negative, 55-David. Do NOT take action. Let us handle it," Detective Sloan advised over the radio. "Do you copy, 55-David?" was the last transmission Bosco heard as he turned his radio off.   
  
Faith had heard what Bosco said and knew there was no way he was going to back off of this case. She told Jimmy to stay where he was and she made her way to the front of the diner, meeting Palmer and Shaun at the corner of the building. Bosco seemed to know that she would be there and he made a move at the same time that Faith came around the corner.  
  
Palmer froze as he heard Shaun say, "Officer Faith. Are you here to take me home? Where's Bosco?"  
  
But, Palmer's reflexes weren't fast enough. Faith grabbed onto Shaun and pulled him to her as Bosco tackled Palmer from behind, taking him down and causing him to strike his face on the sidewalk. "I'm right here, Buddy," Bosco said as he was taking down Palmer. "And you're just about home," he said as he pulled Palmer's hands behind his back and cuffed him roughly. He pulled him to his feet, blood coming from his mouth and nose.   
  
Shaun broke free of Faith and raced over to Bosco's side. Faith took control of the prisoner as the uniformed officers arrived at the scene and Bosco picked Shaun up and held him tight. "I knew you'd come for me," the boy yelled, throwing his hands around Bosco's neck.  
  
"No doubt," Bosco said, looking at his partner and taking the cell phone out of his pocket. Faith was amazed that he was able to control his emotions. She'd expected a lot more damage to Palmer and Bosco could see her surprise.  
  
"I just wanted Shaun to be safe," he said simply, as he walked a few feet away and dialed Katy's number, still holding Shaun in his arms. As he waited for Katy to pick up, he looked the boy over to make sure there were no physical injuries and he appeared to be fine.  
  
"Swersky," came the answer on the other end.  
  
"Lieu, it's Bosco," he told him. "I've got him. He's fine," Bosco reported. "You'll let Katy know and meet us at Mercy so they can make sure he's okay?" he asked.  
  
"Why don't you talk to Katy yourself," the Lieutenant suggested, taking the phone away from his ear and handing his daughter the phone.  
  
"Hello?" Katy said, hesitantly on the phone, not knowing who it was.  
  
"Hey," Bosco said calmly.  
  
"Bosco? Are you okay? What's going on?" she asked impatiently.  
  
"I've got someone here that wants to talk to you," he told her, holding the phone up to Shaun's ear and whispering, "Say hi to your Mom."  
  
"Mom? I want to come home," Shaun said, beginning to cry. Bosco tightened his grip on the child, trying to offer him the comfort only his mother could provide right now.  
  
"Shaun?! Is it really you, Baby," Katy practically screamed into the phone. "I'm coming to get you, Shaun. Don't you leave Bosco's side. Do you hear me? Don't let go of him," she ordered.   
  
"I won't Mommy," Shaun said, looking at his rescuer and beaming. Bosco took the phone back.  
  
"Katy? I'm bringing him to Mercy. He looks fine, but I just want him checked out," Bosco said.  
  
"Thank you, Bosco. Thank you for bringing my son home," she said, beginning to cry. Bosco's eyes filled slightly also and he cleared his throat trying to get control of his emotions as well.  
  
"I wasn't coming home without him," Bosco said. Faith heard him and even if Bosco hadn't realized it yet, she knew that Bosco felt like he was at home when he was with Katy and the kids.  
  
He hung up the phone and walked over to Faith, who was standing with Faith, Ty, Sully, Jimmy, D.K., and Billy.  
  
They all oohed and aahed over Shaun - who ate it up - and congratulated Bosco on a job well done. D.K. told Bosco that Alex and Kim were coming with the bus to take them over to Mercy.  
  
"Thanks, guys," Bosco said. "I couldn't have done it without you all. Thank you for helping me keep my promise to Katy."  
  
Sully slapped Bosco on the back as 55-Boy came around the corner and stopped right next to them. He climbed into the back of the ambulance with Kim, Shaun sitting on his lap. The doors closed and the ambulance headed for the hospital.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
TBC... 


	15. Chapter 15 ConclusionEpilogue

This One's Personal  
  
Chapter 15  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bosco carried Shaun into the ER at Mercy Hospital, with Kim following behind with the paperwork. Nurse Proctor showed them into a private exam room and made some small talk with Shaun while she prepared him to be examined by the doctor. Bosco never left Shaun's side and only reluctantly let go of his hand as Proctor removed his arm from the sleeve of his shirt to put him into the examination gown.  
  
"So, Shaun. Are you feeling okay?" the nurse asked him.  
  
"I'm okay," he said matter-of-factly, looking up at Bosco. "Bosco saved me from the bad man," he reported to the nurse.  
  
"So I heard," she said to him with a smile. "He's a pretty great guy, isn't he?" she said as she looked at Bosco and winked.  
  
"Yeah. I want him to be my new Dad. Mom says my real Dad can't be with us anymore because he's up in heaven with all the other firemen that got hurt that day," he said and Proctor looked over at Bosco who had a look of shock on his face. "But I think that Bosco would do a good job, don't you?"  
  
"Don't look so scared, Bosco. It's normal," she said to him. "He just needs a male presence in his life. Someone he can count on and talk to," she added.  
  
"Uh huh," he nodded, still shocked that he would want Bosco to fill in for his father. He'd never really thought it this far through, but after a few minutes he felt like he kind of liked the idea.  
  
He was startled from his thoughts as the doctor came into the room. "Well, Shaun. You had a little bit of a scare so let's check you over to make sure that you're okay. Does that sound okay to you?" the doctor asked him carefully.  
  
"Um, I, uh, I guess so," Shaun replied shyly, looking up at Bosco again. Bosco felt the boy's grip of his hand tighten slightly. He looked from Shaun to the doctor.  
  
"Uh, Doc? Do you think it'd be okay if we waited for his Mom to get here?" Bosco asked him. "I think he'd feel a little better after he sees his Mom. He hasn't seen her yet since, well, the, uh, since we got him back," he finished.  
  
The doctor looked at Shaun and gave him a big smile. "Absolutely. I'll just go check on some of the other patients until your Mom gets here," he said, winking at Shaun and nodding to Bosco.  
  
"Thanks, Doc," Bosco said.  
  
"No problem. I didn't know that his Mom wasn't here yet," he said, turning to go see some other patients.  
  
"So, will you?" Shaun asked Bosco.  
  
"Will I what, Buddy?" he asked back.  
  
"Will you be my new Dad?" he asked, as Katy walked through the door with Lieutenant Swersky right behind him. She had Stephanie in her arms and Michael and Matthew were close behind her. She paused briefly at the door as she heard Shaun's question to Bosco, but her desire to hold Shaun and make sure that he was safe made her put the question out of her mind for now. She handed Stephanie over to the Lieutenant.  
  
"Shaun," she said, picking him up off the table and hugging him tightly to her. "Honey, I'm so glad you're safe. I was so worried. I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to keep the bad man away," she said, tears sliding down her cheeks.  
  
"It's okay, Mommy. Bosco caught the bad man and he said that he won't be able to bother me anymore," Shaun informed her. Katy made eye contact with Bosco who was trying to stifle a chuckle. The question that Shaun had asked him as Katy arrived was also put aside in his mind for the time being as he watched the light return to Katy's eyes now that her family was safe.  
  
He looked around Katy and saw Michael standing off to the side of the room. He walked over to him and squatted down in front of him. "You okay, Champ?" he asked him.  
  
Michael just nodded. "You sure?" he asked again, quieter. At that, Michael's eyes filled with tears and although he tried as hard as he could to hold them back, they fell. Bosco immediately reached out and brought Michael close to him. "Thanks for taking care of your Mom, Matt and Stephanie for me. You did a great job." He felt the sobs shaking the boy and held him tighter against him, feeling the tears fall on his neck.  
  
"Buddy, everything's gonna be fine now. Everyone's safe. I promise," he said, trying to reassure Michael. He separated from Michael and held him in front of him. "You remember what I told you, right? This is in no way your fault. There's nothing anyone could have done to know that this would have happened. And you kept everything together at home while I went to get Shaun back. I was able to do that because I knew you had things at home covered," he said, reinforcing his previous conversation with Michael.  
  
The boy nodded his head up and down as he was able to gather his emotions back in. "Alright. Now, how about you go over there with the rest of them and welcome your brother back," Bosco said, stepping aside to let Michael by.   
  
The Lieutenant, who was still holding Stephanie, turned to Bosco. "Good work," he said to him, holding out his hand to shake it.  
  
"Thank you, Sir," Bosco replied, taking the Lieutenant's hand and shaking it.  
  
"Bosco," Stephanie said, reaching out for him. Bosco took the little girl from her grandfather's arms and noticed how good it felt to have someone reaching out for him. Suddenly, it struck him and he said, "Hey! You remembered my name, Stephi! Good girl."  
  
"Bosco Dada," the little girl replied and everyone laughed. The doctor came into the room and Bosco and the Lieutenant took the other kids out to the waiting area to let him check Shaun over.  
  
As they sat in the waiting room, the Lieutenant turned to Bosco. "The psychologist that was seeing Shaun after this all started contacted us today," he started. "He said that although he wasn't really supposed to discuss patients with anyone, he just wanted to let us know that from what Shaun is saying and showing him on the doll he uses, Palmer didn't do anything to him. He just talked about it, but hadn't acted on it yet."  
  
"Thank God for that," Bosco said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank God for that," he repeated, looking into the room.  
  
"By the way," Swersky said, looking at his watch. "You can have the rest of the shift off."  
  
Bosco looked at his watch and realized that he should have been about two hours into his shift. He hadn't even thought about it. "Thank you, Sir," he said, standing up as Katy came to the doorway.   
  
"Dad, could you bring the kids in and stay in here with Shaun? I'd like to talk to Bosco," Katy said to her father. The Lieutenant stood up and brought the kids into Shaun's room with him.  
  
Katy walked over to Bosco and awkwardly stood in front of him. "So, is he alright?" Bosco asked her.  
  
"He's fine. The doctor said that with time, this should all be just a distant memory for him. He should be absolutely fine," she said, starting to cry again. "Bosco, I don't know what I would have done if not for you," she said, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug.  
  
Putting his arms around her, he replied, "Hey. I'm just glad that I was able to bring him back." He gripped her shoulders and gently eased her away from him so that he was looking at her face. "But, it was a group effort. If not for the guys from the station and the firehouse, I don't know if it would have been as good a result," Bosco said, spreading the credit around where it was due.  
  
"I know. But, I just knew that you'd be able to bring my son back to me," she said, suddenly leaning forward and kissing him.  
  
Faith was coming around the corner. She'd brought in Palmer to get some stitches from his apprehension and thought she'd check to see how Shaun was doing. She saw Bosco and Katy in the middle of what looked to her like a pretty romantic kiss. She stepped back around the corner to give them a little privacy and overheard Katy say, "I heard what Shaun asked you as I was coming into the room - about you being his new Daddy."  
  
"Look, Katy..." he started but was interrupted when Katy put a finger to his lips to shush him.  
  
"Bosco. I've been having some pretty strong feelings about you. Feelings I haven't had in a while - even before all this," she said, blushing slightly.  
  
"You have?" Bosco said, smiling. She nodded and he continued, "Because I've been having some feelings I don't think I've EVER had before."  
  
"Well, what d'you say we take some time to explore both of our feelings," Katy said, leaning in to kiss him again.  
  
"Mmmm. I kinda like the sound of that," Bosco said, kissing her back. "But, I want you to know that we can take it as slow as you need to. I know the kids come first and that's the way it should be," he said.  
  
"I think I'm gonna like having you around more," she said as the two began to kiss again.  
  
Faith stepped around the corner and cleared her throat so that they'd know she was there. "Oh, sorry," she said as she finally got their attention and they pulled away from each other. She tried not to laugh as she saw the embarrassment on Bosco's face.  
  
"Faith. Everything okay?" Bosco asked, flustered.  
  
"Just fine. I brought a prisoner in for some stitches," she explained to Bosco, not wanting to use Palmer's name and upset Katy. She knew that Bosco understood who she had with her. "And I thought I'd check to see how everyone's doing," she said, an awkward silence falling between them as she watched Bosco and Katy looking at each other.   
  
"Well, I can see things are going great here, so I'll just..., head on back to the precinct," she said, trailing off. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, partner," she said turning to leave.  
  
"Wait!" Katy called after her. "Faith, I just wanted to thank you for helping Bosco to bring Shaun back safely. I know he had a lot of help and I'll find a way to repay everyone," she said.  
  
"Katy, the only payment we need is to know that Shaun is safe and happy again," Faith said. "Take care," she finished as she turned to leave.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
EPILOGUE....  
  
It had been about a year since Shaun's ordeal and everyone had healed nicely. Shaun never talked about it anymore and his nightmares were gone. Part of the reason may have been because Bosco and Katy had gotten married about three months ago and they all lived in the house on Arthur.   
  
Michael was growing into quite a young man, with all the girls after him, causing Katy much distress and Bosco much amusement. He'd even come to Bosco a couple of times for advice on girls - much to Faith's amazement and worry at what he was advising.  
  
Matthew was growing quickly too and was totally consumed by baseball. He wanted them all to move to Florida so he could play year round - determined to be a professional baseball player with the New York Yankees.  
  
Shaun was active in a lot of activities with his friends and was doing well in school. He was very close to Bosco and the two spent a lot of time together.  
  
Stephanie had dropped the "Bosco" part of her name for Bosco and just called him "Daddy." They had decided that it was okay, but that they'd never let her forget that Mark was her real father and, as Bosco said, he was just there to do whatever he could to help her grow up healthy and safe.  
  
Faith and Bosco were still partners on the Third Watch and took turns going to either Bosco and Katy's or Fred and Faith's for their meal breaks. Lieutenant Swersky remained their boss and was only too happy to walk his daughter down the aisle when she married Officer Maurice Boscorelli - something that no one in the 55th Precinct thought would ever happen.  
  
The family of the NYPD and FDNY on King and Arthur remained as strong as ever and there were many get togethers among the families of the 5-5.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The End. 


End file.
